The Hooded Robin is a medium-large robin with a rather short slender bill and a moderately long tail which is square-tipped. Adult males are pied (black and white) with a black hood and back, white underparts, black wings, white shoulder bar and wing stripe. Females are similar to males but greyer with a brown-grey head and a dark brown wing with a white stripe. Juveniles are dark brown with off-white speckling, white markings on the upper body and white underneath. Hooded Robins are also known as Black or Pied Robins. They are usually seen in pairs or small groups and are rather shy and quiet. Their flight is short, swift and undulating (curving up and down) with the white in the wings and tail is obvious.

Similar species:

The adult male Hooded Robin is the only black and white robin. Pied Honeyeaters and Black Honeyeaters are slimmer, with down-curved bills and they are noisy and active. Females may be similar to other female robins and the Jacky Winter, but the larger size of the Hooded Robin, with its grey breast and diagnostic white markings on the wing should distinguish it.

Where does it live?

Distribution:

Hooded Robins are found all over mainland Australia, except Cape York and eastern Gulf of Carpentaria or inland around the Simpson Desert, on the Nullarbor Plain or south of the Kimberley Ranges. They are more commonly found in south-eastern Australia from Adelaide to Brisbane.

The Hooded Robin sits on exposed perches, such as dead branches and stumps and pounces on arthropods (mainly insects). It forages on or near the ground.

Breeding:

The Hooded Robin breeds in monogamous pairs. They construct a cup-shaped nest of leaves and bark, bound with spiders' web, placed in a crevice, hollow or hole in a tree or stump. The female incubates the eggs.

Living with us

Clearing of woodlands in south-eastern Australia has caused a decline in populations of the Hooded Robin. Young birds are taken by foxes.